65€
( 24 )
( 25 )
524
12. Q. With whom did you come to Hongkong?
A. With CHEUNG CHIU-CH'ÁN, a man of the Wo-chéung shop.
13. Q. Where are the persons now in whose company you came to Hongkong?
A. Here.
14. Q. Where did you stay in Hongkong?
A. At the Wo-chéung shop.
15. Q. Where do you intend to go to? and with whom are you going?
A. To Australia, with CHEUNG CHIU-CH'ÁN.
16. Q. What work and wages do you expect to get in Australia?
A. I shall do vegetable gardening work. CHEUNG CHIU-CH'AN did not tell me what wages I would get.
17. Q. What outfit have you now, and how did you procure it?
A. The same as before.
18. Q. What were your expenses in Hongkong, and what sum have you left now?
A. Over 4 taels. I have no money left.
19. Q. Have you a passage ticket?
A. Yes.
20. Q. When, from whom, and where did you obtain it?
A. This morning. K'UNG-HOK of the Wo-chéung (Wo-hing) shop. [The ticket being examined was found to be stamped by the Hang-t'ai-on shop, from which the Wo-chéung (Wo-hing) shop obtained it.]
21. Q. What sum did you pay for it and to whom?
A. I paid for it 30 taels, 9 mace and 6 candareens, to K'UNG HOK.
22. Q. What sum will you have to repay after arrival in Australia?
A. By and bye I must repay it to CHUNG TAI-K'AN, and he will pay K'UNG HOK. The money was given by CHUNG TAI-K'AN. He lives at Nám-hap, a village 2 miles distant, from Wong-ch'ung, my native village.
23. Q. At what rate of interest and to whom will you have to repay it, or is the amount to be deducted from your wages by your future employer?
A. For each tael I must repay two taels.
24. Q. Did you make any verbal or written agreement regarding repayment of outfit and passage?
A. There is a written agreement in form of a card.
[NOTE. This witness was exceedingly difficult to understand, and each question had to be put to him several times, as he spoke and understood but the San-úi dialect. But what is given above was clearly stated by him.]
E. J. EITEL.
MINUTE BY HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR.
Refer all these papers to the Emigration Officer, who will make his observations upon them when he has finished his own examination, made by him with a view of ascertaining whether all the emigrants in the list he laid before me are really free and under no contract of service whatever.
Report herewith.
28th April, 1881.
No. 131.
MINUTE BY THE EMIGRATION OFFICER.
H. G. TROMSETT.
THE HARBOUR MASTER AND EMIGRATION OFFICER TO THE ACTING COLONIAL SECRETARY.
HARBOUR DEPARTMENT, HONGKONG, 28th April, 1881.
SIR,
I have the honour to report that I have examined 839 Chinese emigrants, intended passengers by the British steamer Glamis Castle, as to whether they are free, and under no contract of service whatever; and I find that they are free and under no contract of service whatever.
A considerable number of the emigrants have been in Sydney before.
One man only out of the List, No. 408, admitted that he had a written agreement in the form of card. This man's name, WONG TIN KIU, has been taken off the list as being under contract.
I have read the reports by the Acting Colonial Secretary and the Acting Registrar General, the Captain Superintendent of Police, and Dr. EITEL, sent for my perusal by order of His Excellency the Governor.
The joint report of the former concludes with the words "if the emigrants were not free and "under no contract of service, it would be impossible for us to show that they were not," seems satisfactorily to dispose of their opinion.
The report of the Captain Superintendent of Police, obtained through a trustworthy detective Sergeant of Police, introduced into the crowd of emigrants, is to the effect, that the majority of the emigrants have raised their passage money by a mortgage on their property, while others have borrowed money on the understanding that they are to repay it at the rate of two dollars for one, when they are able to afford it; it is added that these men are their own masters and are not under contract, except so far as concerns the repayment of the loans.
This report is equally satisfactory, as although there is a loan, there is no contract of service to make the repayment binding.
Dr. EITEL's opinion is that he is convinced that the vast majority of the emigrants would, on strict examination, be found to be men utterly unable to pay the passage money themselves, but who, whilst being perfectly free and willing emigrants, have had the passage money advanced to them by Chinese firms, and will repay the money with interest 18 months after arrival in Australia. Dr. EITEL may or may not be right in his conclusions, but as he does not express any opinion as to whether the transaction of borrowing and repaying is a Contract of service, I presume he is unable to satisfy his mind on the point.
As regards the men being shoeless and stockingless, that is the natural condition of Chinese labourers; but had Dr. EITEL looked at the fingers of some of the Glamis Castle emigrants he would have seen them wearing gold rings. I have seen numbers of Chinese, returning from Australia and America with large sums of money in their possession, land in a similar condition.
I have, &c.,
The Honourable FREDERICK STEWART, LL.D.,
Acting Colonial Secretary.
H. G. THOMSETT,
Harbour Master, &c.
26th April, 1881.
MINUTE BY THE ACTING COLONIAL SECRETARY.
Referred to the Emigration Officer, as above.
27th April, 1881.
J. POPE HENNESSY.
MINUTE BY HIS EXCELLENCY THE GOVERNOR.
I observe that out of the four alleged free emigrants examined by Dr. EITEL, Captain THOMSETT now admits that one was under contract, and that his name has been taken off the list by the Emigration Officer. Holding Captain THOMSETT responsible for the examination of the remaining eight hundred and thirty five, I have signed the licence.
J. POPE HENNESSY.
FREDERICK STEWART,
Acting Colonial Secretary
28th April, 1881.